From costly installations to strict city ordinances, there’s a number of factors that have limited the growth of wind power in urban environments. Now, Aerovironment is ushering in an era of urban wind power with a sleek series of small, silent turbines that eschew the need for a tower. Dubbed ‘Architectural Wind’, the system seamlessly integrates into the parapets of buildings, taking advantage of aerodynamics to catch wind as its speed escalates up a structure’s side. The turbine’s innovative approach boasts up to a 30% increase in energy production, and their adaptable, modular assembly makes installation a snap.

Aerovironment’s website states: “Architectural Wind is designed to install easily onto the building parapet, operating in plain sight as an attractive complement to the building’s architecture. Additionally, based on its proprietary system design, Architectural Wind turbines rotate at low wind speeds, resulting in a form of ‘kinetic architecture’ that communicates clearly the generation of clean energy. Working alone or in tandem with other renewable energy technologies, Architectural Wind is designed to offer an attractive ROI and cost per kW of installed capacity.”

Installations have little or no structural impact upon existing buildings and are easily scalable starting at 6KW. Each module weighs approximately 200 pounds, measures 4 feet tall by 4 feet wide, and features a bird screen.

We’re excited to find more and moremicroturbines cropping up in the alternative energy world, since they offer a variety of advantages over traditional turbine towers, especially in urban applications.

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7 Comments

[...] living laboratory is powered by renewable energy, with solar panels on the roof and a couple small-scale wind turbines on the hill behind the school. The Energy Lab actually only uses 8% of the power it generates, [...]

KwangErnOctober 20, 2008 at 11:58 am

Interesting. Am wondering how much kWh it can produce, and also its TCO.

What’s always not so interesting about green energy technology is that the TCO costs more with lower kWh. :/

greenbeanSeptember 1, 2008 at 12:14 am

What\’s with people thinking these things are ugly? Are they any uglier than the facade of the building itself? Uglier than the cruddy low-grade landscaping most businesses have? Uglier than the parking lot?

I just don\’t think the \”ugly\” complaint is warranted in a world where efficiency and accountability are taking seed, especially when there are much uglier things about most buildings to complain about.

[...] The concept of decentralized wind power is not a new one, but adoption has been held up by the expense and unwieldiness of existing solutions, which basically involve building a tall, ugly, miniaturized Texan wind farm on your roof. ‘Architectural Wind’ promises to simplify the process, allowing you to strap as many of the attractive, unobtrusive fans to the edges of your building as you can, without requiring any kind of additional renovation. [Inhabitat] [...]

francesJune 11, 2008 at 2:57 pm

I especially like how these give all visitors to the building a visual signal as to the source of the energy that helps feed the building. When one doesn\’t \”see\” where the energy comes from, one can easily ignore it; this project helps eliminate that disconnect.

dennis_walkerJune 10, 2008 at 10:04 pm

thank you for a wonderful website. How can i learn more about international windturbine use, both big and small? i am 65 and mostly homebound now i see the pres as “Don Quoxte” meeting his fate at thehands of a
working persons windmill. I look forward to hearing more about your wour work and have many ? thank you again for what you are doing> dennis Walker an unreconstructured 60′s dreamer

ScottJune 10, 2008 at 7:46 pm

thats great, whats the price per kw/h difference between these and conventional turbines?